It is like buying a designer label. It's still living in the world of bubble in the period when spend any amount of money on getting that degree is worth it because you'll waltz into a wall street job and pay it off in a couple of years if that. That whole sector is much smaller now and cannot absorb all the students from all the top schools and the bonuses aren't there anymore so you can't guarantee you'll pay off the debt before the next round of lay-offs. Unfortunately the universities haven't woken up to this because there are still a lot of students who have the old mentality of the boom years. Get the MBA, go to an ibank or consulting firm and sorted. I heard the big consulting firms are giving their staff the option of taking a year or 2 of unpaid leave with a guarantee of a return. that says to me they are trying to delay redundancies.